Beep Beep! Roadrunner, The Coyote’s After You! 7 Random Things To Tell You On A Wednesday

April 24, 2024April 25, 2024 / Ally Bean / 203 Comments

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1. I am agreeing. Social connectedness can take on many forms. I read THIS article about lively front yards that include any items like, but not limited to, garden gnomes, porch swings, plastic flamingoes, little free libraries, and assorted other decorative stuff. The conclusion was that: “residents who expressed themselves with items in front of their house reported feeling a greater sense of place.”

2. I am enthusiastic. What beach reading books are to summer, ‘Bunny Rabbit’ TV Shows are to your mental health. Bunny Rabbit TV shows aren’t literally about rabbits, they are shows that give you a lift, not requiring more from you than your willingness to be distracted in a lighthearted way from your woes. I grok this term, enjoyed the article and the comments that followed, and haven’t stop thinking about which TV shows to put on my list since I read about this idea.

3. I am ditzy. In my ongoing attempts at being mindful of water usage, I pour the end of our glasses of drinking water onto the houseplants. Welp, in a moment of *duh* I poured the remains of a flavored club soda [San Pellegrino Dark Morello Cherry & Pomegranate to be exact] onto a large pothos. And within days the plant turned yellow-ish and began dropping leaves. Yes, I murdered a plant.

4. I am laughing. According to my results from the Pottery Barn Style Finder Quiz my decorating style is Farmhouse: “rustic woods, hardworking metals, and sprinkles of barnyard whimsy.” Me thinks not. While the metals around here may be hardworking [not sure what that even means] the wood is refined and there is NO barnyard whimsy here. As if.

5. I am enthralled. I’ve learned that after soccer, badminton is the most popular sport in the world. Who knew? As such there is scientific research about which shuttlecocks, also known as birdies, are best: ones with duck feathers or ones made of nylon. Learn more HERE about findings that “may represent a new arc in the history of the beloved sport.”

6. I am indulging. I decided that I NEEDED something sweet to eat, something devoid of nutritional value. So I scrounged around online and found this Strawberry Rice Krispie Treats recipe that adds freeze-dried strawberries to the classic recipe. Divinely delicious.

7. I am entertained. I stumbled over this website, MovieGrid.io, that offers a daily online challenge about movies. Titles of said. Dates premiered. Stars in movies. You have 9 chances to answer 9 questions correctly which, if you do, creates a completely filled-in grid of 9 movie posters, NOT like what you see immediately below.

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QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

What gives you a sense of place? Is having one important to you?

What’s on your Bunny Rabbit TV Shows list?

If you take the PB style quiz, what style do they say you are? Do you agree with the results?

When you want something sweet to eat that is devoid of nutritional value, what do you turn to? Are you on Team Rice Krispie Treats with me?

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The One About Spring Cleaning, Taking A Tumble, And Discussion Of Said

April 3, 2024 / Ally Bean / 248 Comments

The Spring Cleaning Part

Last week we decided to do a proper spring cleaning on the first floor of our house. It’s almost all wood flooring, the outliers being the powder room and the laundry room that have tile floors.

As you can imagine cleaning and waxing all the wood floors means moving furniture, rugs, plants, lamps, decorative items from one room to another; then moving them back from whence they came.

Please note that we’re not obsessive about doing all the spring cleaning in one day, like we were when we were younger and working and being social butterflies who had places to go, people to meet.

No, now we go with the flow and take our time.

Over a few days.

The Tumble Part

Well, we’d done the floors in all the rooms except the living room. And I suppose I was feeling a little cocky about how efficiently we’d moved furniture and such around the first floor, like pros.

But pride goeth before the fall, people. [No pun intended but it is one.]

So as we were carrying the rolled up 8′ x 10′ heavy wool rug + pad back into the living room preparing to place it just so, I lost my balance on the slick clean waxed floor and dramatically, albeit slowly, fell down, KERPLUNK.

At this point, if’n we were a younger married couple, my true love would have rushed to my side making sure I was uninjured.

However as a much older married couple my true love knows I’m clumsy as all get out, so he just looked at me in a heap on the floor and said: “it’s just a few more steps to get the rug into place, you gonna help?”

Thus prompted by his *concern* I stood up, doublechecking the knee on which I’d fallen to see if it still worked. And it did. As did my toes that had gotten twisted around and smashed when I sat unceremoniously on them.

No harm, no foul.

The Discussion Part

Now the foregoing isn’t meant to be a motherly warning against wearing only socks on your feet when you move heavy items around on wood floors, which I think we can agree might not have been, in retrospect, a good idea.

Instead think of this tale as the precursor to the conversation that followed in which we discussed what I could/should/might say to our primary care physician when I go for my annual physical checkup wherein she’ll ask: have you fallen in the last year?

The answer to this question is, of course, dependent upon how you choose to define “fall.” To wit:

Is a fall any incident wherein you find yourself unintentionally down on the floor/ground despite the unusualness of the situation? Such as what happened to me while helping with the rug, something that might be classified as a minor mishap, merely a slip.

Is a fall specifically when you lose your balance unexpectedly whilst doing something normal like walking around your house, your neighborhood, a store, a park, wherever? Such as tripping over something, or having a stroke-like moment, resulting in a serious keeling over out of nowhere.

I await your insightful comments, my little moonbeams of good health. Trust me when I say this has been an ongoing, unresolved, conversation here at Chez Bean.

What say ye?

Hokey Smokes: 7 Things To Tell You On The Last Thursday In October

October 26, 2023April 25, 2024 / Ally Bean / 274 Comments

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1 – I am encouraged. The health advice in this article is fun and puts aging into perspective without making a person, such as myself, feel angsty. Just so you know, apropos of the article, I do eat beans and I can scratch my own back. So there.

2 – I am disheartened. This region of the USA is currently experiencing Boxwood Armageddon. To put this in pragmatic terms, we have 25 boxwood bushes on this property: 11 are dead, 4 are ailing, and 10 are hanging in there. It’s going to be expensive to remove the dead/ailing ones then replace them with something, probably not boxwoods.

3 – I am delighted. I’ve started watching a new TV mystery series about a full-time caterer/part-time sleuth. The show, that is on Acorn, is called Mrs Sidhu Investigates. I want Suki Sidhu to be my bff, she is smart and captivating with a good sense of humor.

4 – I am unclear. In regard to a conversation with a friend irl I’m wondering if how I define the word “overshare” is how anyone else does. To wit, does it mean: 1) talk about topics that you deem to be improper; 2) talk in depth about a topic; OR 3) talk too frequently about whatever interests you in the moment?

5 – I am thrilled!!! This article [HERE] explains that: “Around 700 years ago, in the small town of Urbisaglia in central Italy, the scholar and poet Alpoleio felt moved to introduce a punctuation mark that flagged up emotion rather than simply syntax.” I don’t use exclamation points often, but when I do I mean it what I’m saying.

6 – I am beguiled. While I like Jell-O, which I know can be a controversial admission, I’ve never made a mold of it… then made the mold wiggle/wobble… for snorts and giggles. Go HERE & HERE & HERE to see what I’m talking about.

7 – I am supportive. DISC is a way to explain your personality based on self-assessment. In the DISC paradigm there are four quadrants: Drive, Influence, Clarity, Support. I took a short free online quiz [HERE] the results of which told me I am “helpful and shows care for others.” Okie dokie, then.

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QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

If you are trying to live a healthier lifestyle, yet find yourself slip sliding away, do articles like the one I linked to help you get back in the groove?

When thinking about how you define “overshare” do you lean into the idea that it means: inappropriate, pedantic, or chatty?

Tell me [us] how you really feel about Jell-O. Everyone has an opinion!!!

If you take the online quiz to determine your DISC personality, who are you? Does it ring true with who you think you are?

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A Potpourri Of Pipsqueaks & Problems & Poems, Oh My

October 17, 2023 / Ally Bean / 225 Comments

The Pipsqueak Part – So Much Energy, I Had To Laugh

In the mornings after I wake up my ritual is to brew a pot of coffee, pour myself a mug of the stuff, and [when possible] go outside to drink it whilst gazing upon nature, absorbing the stillness of morning.

Being at one with the universe, dagnabbit.

However the other morning at about 7:20 am, as I’m communing with nature sitting on the deck at the back of our house, I hear noise. It’s a loud unfamiliar sound coming from the front of the house.

What am I hearing?

It’s the kids, the little twerps, kindergartners mostly, in front of our house waiting for the school bus to pick them up. And they are all howling like wolf pups, loudly, with gusto.

Which has prompted neighborhood dogs in backyards, like Irene [Great Dane], and Cookie [Dalmatian], and Rocco [Beagle-ish pound puppy] to join in with the little human wolf puppies, howling louder than the kids.

Creating a glorious cacophony, that while unexpected, got me laughing so hard I almost spilled the coffee in my mug.

And that would never do.

The Problem Part – In Which We Mourn A Loss

After 12 years of service our furnace died. We knew the end was coming but buying a new one isn’t exactly the most exciting use of money. Nonetheless with a loud *sigh* we got a new one.

The new furnace, like its predecessor, is in our unfinished basement. The installation took most of a day and went smoothly under the auspices of a guy I shall call Jake. He was quiet, knowledge, and seemed to have endless energy.

Welp, once the furnace was hooked up Jake had us follow him into the basement so he could explain the new furnace, as in parts and filters, and to show us the new sticker with his name on it saying that he’d installed the furnace.

Every time a maintenance tech comes to service the furnace they leave their initials on the official permanent sticker that starts with the name of the guy who installed it.

Very organized.

But here’s the thing, the unexpected turn in what we assumed would be a standard conversation with Jake, he got choked up when talking about putting his sticker on our furnace.

Come to find out 12 years ago Jake’s beloved mentor, Tom, had installed our old furnace placing his sticker on it. And, as Jake explained, seeing Tom’s writing on the old sticker reminded Jake that Tom had recently died.

Jake was visibly bereft about Tom’s passing, on the verge of tears. Thus while Zen-Den and I politely said things like “my condolences” and “I’m sorry for your loss” Jake stopped talking entirely. Then we three stood in front of our new furnace having an impromptu minute of silence in honor of Tom.

May he rest in peace.

The Poem Part – I Gave It A Try And Here Is What I Wrote

A couple of weeks ago Kari at a grace full life wrote a poem based on an “I Am From” template [HERE]. Then after sharing her poem she politely challenged us to write our own poems.

Challenge accepted!

Below is my poem, titled in the way that Kari did hers, created by following the prompts on the template, but written using my own punctuation because, really, the punctuation on the template makes no sense.

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